Is There Too Much Light Crude On The Market?

A lighter crude oil grade is being sold from the Permian, Bloomberg reported earlier this week, noting it was selling at a discount to the regional benchmark, WTI Midland. It sounds counterintuitive: lighter grades should be more expensive than heavier ones, right? Apparently, wrong. There may be too much light crude on the market. The new grade, Bloomberg cited sources as saying, has a gravity of some 45-50 API, which brings it closer to condensates, unlike the WTI Midland gravity, which is between 38 and 42 API. The lighter crude is being blended with other local grades, the sources also said, and shipped at a rate of 100,000 bpd into storage. The Permian, and the shale patch as a whole, is light crude land. That’s why U.S. refiners import their heavy, which they need to produce fuels and oil products different from gasoline. The problem for light crude producers […]